What You Need To Know About Infectious Disease
Prevention & Treatment
Government Policies
Keeping our nation safe from disease outbreaks depends on effective and well-coordinated programs that monitor public health. What are some of the key efforts at work in the United States?
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What do you know about infectious disease?
True or False: Washing your hands with soaps that have residue-producing antibacterial products, such as those containing the chemical triclosan, have been proven to confer health benefits.
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
Washing with regular soap is considered the most important way to prevent disease transmission. Routine consumer use of residue-producing antibacterial products has no added benefit and may actually contribute to antibiotic resistance.
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Correct!
Washing with regular soap is considered the most important way to prevent disease transmission. Routine consumer use of residue-producing antibacterial products has no added benefit and may actually contribute to antibiotic resistance.
Infectious Disease Defined
- RNA
Short for ribonucleic acid, RNA is a molecule with long strands of nucleic acids containing a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate. RNA is responsible for controlling a number of chemical activities, including protein synthesis, within cells.
National Academies
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration (2010)
- BioWatch and Public Health Surveillance: Evaluating Systems for the Early Detection of Biological Threats—Abbreviated Version, Summary (2009)
- Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases (2009)
- The U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the Public and Private Sectors (2009)
- Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Detection: Assessing the Challenges, Finding Solutions—Workshop Summary (2007)
- Addressing Foodborne Threats to Health: Policies, Practices, and Global Coordination—Workshop Summary (2006)
- Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response (2003)
